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What is Mobile App Security?
Mobile app security is the way we protect all the necessary mobile apps from malware and hacks. Most people today are using their mobile phones to access the internet more than they used their PCs and laptops.
However, many are not worried about mobile app security as they use their phones to browse the internet on a public Wi-Fi, when paying for their bills using their mobile banking applications or when playing their favorite games.
A bigger percentage of the communications passed via mobile phones are unencrypted which makes most of the mobile apps vulnerable to attacks and hacks.
Mobile apps can be downloaded from the mobile app developer’s websites or from Google Play Store and have been helpful for distributing content globally.
In fact, many companies and businesses have invested more on mobile apps to enhance their staff’s efficiency. Whenever a mobile app is hacked or cracked, an organization can expose its user data; incur a heavy revenue loss, and can even ruin its reputation. This, calls for mobile app developers to ensure their apps are well secured against malicious intent.
The mobile app security tips below are helpful when it comes to the development of an application until when it is delivered to the end-user.
In addition, users are also advised to ensure mobile app security is enhanced too.
1. The Coding
Here, you must ensure the source code is encrypted. Remember, mobile app development is no different from other application projects, therefore mobile app security needs to be your first thought.
It has been observed that during the design and source code of the mobile app, it is when it is more vulnerable to malware attacks, although many developers overlook security at this stage.
Sometimes the mobile app can be vulnerable since the developer failed to test the code or can just be a target by a hacker.
So What Should be Done at this Stage?
- The source code must be encrypted. This helps to ensure the source code is secret and no one can easily interpret it. API encryption is highly recommended at this stage.
- Code testing and scan codding. This will help to find out any vulnerability.
- Ensure the mobile app can access security patches from different devices and operating systems.
- Avoid compromising on performance and user experience. Battery consumption and runtime memory should be considered.
2. Provide an Alternative Storage Area For Sensitive Data
It is good to note that when users store their sensitive data within the devices or in the app developer’s servers, it paves way for attacks by hackers.
Therefore the best thing here is to use encrypted data storage locations or key chains if there is no alternative storage location for confidential user data.
For passwords, cookies can be helpful. Also, you should try to minimize the way you depend on logs. In fact, the best solution to this is to make sure logs are erased after a set period of time.
3. For Users, Ensure to Enhance Your Mobile App Security by Making Passwords Obligatory
If your business deals with operations that require your consumers to interact with your mobile app on their day to day operations, ensure all the apps are accessible with a password.
Note that if your apps are open and can be accessed by anyone outside your business, it is more likely for hackers to access the app and expose your private user data to more attacks.
In addition to making passwords a compulsory, you must ensure every requirement for your app is not easily decoded by anyone.
4. App’s Data Access Restrictions
When we install the apps most apps request data access permissions. The data could be files, contacts, and many more. Therefore, a user should limit the app’s data access permissions. Allowing the app to access sensitive data can leak important information to hackers.
Conclusion
With the rise of the use of mobile phones today, hackers have also increased. They look for ways to steal confidential data as well as compromise app security.
It is, therefore, important for app developers to ensure a solid mobile app security strategy is in place so that mobile apps become a safe tool for users who use it on their day to day business operations. Mobile users, on the other hand, should also understand that mobile security must be the first priority.
